Chapter Nineteen
Ciara
The sight of my brother enraged, glaring at my husband does not come as a surprise any longer.
The problem is: Cormac has a gun in his hands.
“Cormac!” I shout, running at him. “You have to stop this. You have to give up your desire to kill Marco. He and I are making this work. Let it go.”
“No,” he growls. “I cannot live while you’re married to a man like him. He’s in love with another woman. He deserves to die.”
“He’s not,” I say, putting my hand on Cormac’s arm.
“He is not in love with another woman. I know that now. I never should have told you anything. It was a mistake. Please, Cormac. Just go. Stop trying to kill my husband. It’s not what I want anymore.
I’ll never ask you to do that again. Never. So just go.”
“No!” He rips his arm away from me. “It doesn’t matter what you want, Ciara. It’s a matter of principle now. Dad never should have gone into business with him. He will be our downfall. He needs to die.”
“Cormac, please,” I beg.
But my brother isn’t listening. He aims his gun at Marco.
My husband is standing perfectly still. “Cormac, don’t do this,” he murmurs.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he snaps.
I run in front of Marco to stop Cormac from shooting him. But everything happens so fast.
Cormac pulls the trigger and an intense pain radiates up my arm. I fall to my knees. Cormac stumbles back, staring at me in shock.
That’s when I realize I have blood on my arm. Because I was shot.
“What the fuck have you done?” Marco snarls as he kneels down beside me.
“I… I…” Cormac drops his gun to the ground. “It was meant for you. Not her.”
“Get out of here,” Marco growls. “Go!” He turns his attention onto me. “Ciara. Hey, are you ok?”
My head is swimming from the blood loss. “No,” I whisper. “It hurts.”
Marco pulls his phone out and calls 9-1-1. “We need an ambulance. My wife was shot.” There’s pain in his voice. Fear.
Cormac picks his gun back up and runs out of the house, not even looking back at me.
Marco pulls me into his arms as I focus on breathing. The bullet hit me in the upper arm. Blood is quickly seeping out of me.
“You’re going to be ok,” Marco whispers. “I can’t lose you, Ciara. I won’t lose you.” He blinks and before I know it, he’s crying. My strong, scary husband who took me so long to figure out. He just doesn’t want to be alone and neither do I.
“Marco,” I say right before the darkness takes over me.
Marco
The ambulance arrives within minutes to take Ciara to the hospital. I sit beside her the entire ride there, holding onto her limp hand. She hasn’t regain consciousness.
“Too much blood loss,” the paramedic tells me, putting an IV into Ciara’s arm. I watch as he packs her wound to stop the bleeding.
“Can’t you do more?” I groan.
“Not until we get to the hospital. We’ll be right there. I promise.”
I shut my eyes as more tears threaten to fall. I can’t remember the last time I’ve cried. It’s been too long.
But the thought of losing Ciara after I finally chose her is too much. She is completely mine and I’m hers. There’s no use in denying it.
In this moment, I know. I love her. She’s no longer a pawn to gain power. She’s my wife and I love her.
We arrive at the hospital and Ciara is taken into a room I’m not allowed to follow. All I can do is look through the glass of the door and watch as doctors and nurses work on her.
I call Patrick. “Ciara’s been shot. Cormac’s doing.”
I stumble back against the nearest wall and sink to the floor, waiting to see if my wife will survive or not.
Ciara is stabilized and taken into surgery by the time Patrick arrives.
“What the fuck happened?” he snarls.
“Cormac hates me,” I explain. “So fucking much that he pulled the trigger when Ciara was in front of me. She was trying to protect me. But she got shot.”
“Fuck. My son is a problem.”
“I know,” I snap.
Patrick shoots me a glare but before he can respond, Cormac arrives, hurrying towards us.
“Is she all right?” he asks.
“How did you find us here?” I ask, grabbing Cormac’s shirt and pulling him towards me.
“Careful,” Patrick warns, extracting my fingers from Cormac’s shirt. “We’re in a hospital. They’ll kick us out if we fight.”
“I didn’t mean it,” Cormac groans, turning to his dad. “I didn’t mean it.”
“I know you didn’t. I know you would never purposefully hurt your sister. But you did. You need to accept that Marco is her husband. You need to accept it, Cormac,” Patrick reiterates when Cormac shakes his head. “If you can’t then…”
“Then what?”
“Then you can’t be a part of this family ever again. You need to go.”
“You’re disowning me?”
Patrick sighs. “Yes. You hurt your sister because you can’t let go of your anger. You need to go now, Cormac. If you ever come back…”
Cormac stares at his dad in shock. “How can you do this to me?”
“How can I?” Patrick shouts, his face turning red. “Your sister was shot because of you. Because you cannot accept Marco. So either accept it or leave. It’s your choice.”
Cormac glares at his dad for a long moment before shooting his glare at me. Without a word to either of us, he walks away.
Patrick slumps against the wall. “Fuck. I could lose my daughter and son all in the same day.”
I have no words to comfort him because I need comforting myself. There’s only one person I can think of.
My brother. Antonio.
I still have his phone number despite him not wanting to have contact with me. He left the world of the mafia to protect his daughter, Arianna. But right now, I’m tired of being alone. I want him back in my life.
“Antonio?” I ask after he picks up the call.
“Marco,” he says stiffly.
“I know you don’t want me in your life. I know you’re just trying to protect Arianna. But… I could really talk to you right now.”
“You sound upset. What happened?”
“My wife was shot. She’s in surgery right now.”
He sucks in a breath. “I didn’t even know you were married.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know. You didn’t want me in your life. And I get it. I live a dangerous one. But I just need you to know, brother, that… I have always loved you. And I’m sorry that I pushed you away by being in this life.”
Antonio is quiet on the other end for a long moment until he sighs. “I’ll always love you too, Marco. And I hope your wife will be ok. For your sake. Tell me. Was she shot because of mafia business?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“Then that’s your answer. I can’t talk to you again. I can’t put Arianna at risk. She deserves to live a life away from the mafia. So please don’t call me again.”
“I know,” I say, my heart feeling a thousand pounds heavier.
“I do love you, Marco. Stay safe.” He hangs up before I can say anything more.
I’ve pushed everyone in my life away except for Ciara. I cannot lose her.
After hours of waiting, the doctor who performed Ciara’s surgery finally comes to talk to me and Patrick.
“She’s stable,” she explains. “We got the bullet out and stopped the bleeding. She’ll survive this but she’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few days while we administer her medicine.”
“But she’ll live?” I croak out.
The doctor smiles. “She should. She’s in a good place right now. Still under sedative but you can go see her.”
Patrick and I rush to her private room to find Ciara asleep in the bed.
“I am sorry,” I say to Patrick. “For not protecting her.”
“No. I’m sorry. This is my fault. I never knew Cormac would go to such lengths. You didn’t do anything wrong. If I had known this would have put Ciara into danger, I never would have married her to you. Cormac never would have been so angry.”
“I promise to you, Patrick, that I’ll always keep her safe.”
“You made a compelling argument that we shouldn’t kill Enzo Bianchi or Will Taylor, leading us into a war. And you’re right. Ciara needs time to heal. I need time to deal with my son. Gaining power can wait. The more important thing is family.”
I go to Ciara’s side and hold her hand. “You’re right.”
“You’re a part of this family now, Marco. Know that. You’ve become my new son now that I’ve lost my other one.”
“Maybe you can make Cormac see reason.” But even I know it’s a bullshit thing to say.
Patrick huffs. “I don’t know what my son will do. But I’ll have to be ready for anything.”
Ciara lets out a sigh and blinks her eyes open.
“Hey,” I say, squeezing her hand.
“I’ll go get the nurse,” Patrick says, leaving the room.
Ciara stares up at me for a moment before she breaks down into tears.
“Why are you crying?” I ask.
“Because I’m not dead.”
“You’re here with me. You’re ok. Alive.”
“Cormac?” she sniffles.
“I’ll let your dad tell you that. Ciara, you need to know something. I was so scared when I thought I was going to lose you. I choose you. I… love you.”
Her eyes widen through her tears before she starts crying harder.
“I didn’t expect you to cry when I told you that,” I say, smiling softly.
“I love you too,” she sobs. “I do. I didn’t realize at first but I wouldn’t have stepped into my brother’s path if I didn’t.”
I press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “You’re ok, baby. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
She continues to cry out everything she went through and I continue to hold her hand, offering her comfort.
Patrick comes back with the nurse, who checks in with Ciara, making sure she’s ok. After Ciara tells her that she feels fine, the nurse leaves to give us some space.
“Cormac?” Ciara asks her dad.
He sighs, running his hand down his face. “I… He came by the hospital. I had to disown him.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, Ciara. He shot you.”
“He didn’t mean to.”
“I know. But the fact that he wants your husband dead so much means he’ll never stop trying to kill him which will always put you in danger. And I can’t allow that.”
“So where will Cormac go? What will he do?”
“I’m not sure, my darling.” Patrick tries offering her a smile but it’s weak. “I’m not sure. But you’re safe. That’s all that matters. I gave Cormac a choice. And he chose to leave.”
Ciara cries for an entirely different reason. “I can’t believe this. Cormac, you idiot.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“It’s not your fault. My brother is too stubborn for his own good.” She wipes at her eyes. “But I have you. I have you.”
I kiss the back of her hand. “You have me. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
It’s a promise I can keep this time because I feel it in my entire being.
Me and Patrick continue to offer Ciara comfort as she cries but it’s a sad day for everyone. Despite that, I feel the tiniest bit of hope that me and Ciara can find happiness.